Mods for old CFL or trash it?

12gallonsofhex · Jan 6, 2019

I recently set my 12 gallon hex up after 16 years of having a dry aquarium. I found that I couldn't find new bulbs for my old, and at one time expensive, compact florescent fixture. It's a custom sea life unit measuring about 14x6 inch. My question is, is there any value in trying to upgrade this to the straight pin style cfl bulbs or is it just a waste of time and money? Also, would it work as a refugium light? I am having a hard time just throwing this thing out after keeping it for so long.

Ocelaris · Jan 6, 2019

I'm sure you can find generic bulbs for them that would be fine for a refugium, they may not be aquarium specific, but they should work fine.

dantimdad · Jan 6, 2019

That's a nice little hood. You could retrofit LEDs into it. Especially since it's fan cooled.

Lowell Lemon · Jan 6, 2019

What wattage are the CFL's? I have a couple boxes of new old stock in the shop. Maybe I have what you need. Mine are the 4 pin straight set up. Have both daylights and actinic lamps.

12gallonsofhex · Jan 6, 2019

Lowell Lemon said:
What wattage are the CFL's? I have a couple boxes of new old stock in the shop. Maybe I have what you need. Mine are the 4 pin straight set up. Have both daylights and actinic lamps.

They are the old square pin 28watt. I found one coral life bulb on Ebay for $65. Seems like even if I could find a replacement pair of bulbs it would be futile finding replacements 6 months later. Maybe i will try a diy led grow light setup for a future fuge using just the vented hood. My head says it's not really worth messing with given today's equipment, my heart thinks I paid too much for it when I was a struggling 19 year old to just get rid of it. Thank you for offering up some new old stock!

12gallonsofhex · Jan 6, 2019

dantimdad said:
That's a nice little hood. You could retrofit LEDs into it. Especially since it's fan cooled.

I think that might be the best idea. I want to run a sump with a fuge or diy turf scrubber in the future, so the vented hood with the acrylic splash shield might be the perfect foundation.

Lowell Lemon · Jan 6, 2019

12gallonsofhex said:
They are the old square pin 28watt. I found one coral life bulb on Ebay for $65. Seems like even if I could find a replacement pair of bulbs it would be futile finding replacements 6 months later. Maybe i will try a diy led grow light setup for a future fuge using just the vented hood. My head says it's not really worth messing with given today's equipment, my heart thinks I paid too much for it when I was a struggling 19 year old to just get rid of it. Thank you for offering up some new old stock!

I also have brand new old stock light systems from Jali to go with the straight pin lamps. I even have some actual Phillips Actinic 03 T8 lamps the ones that started it all. LOL I have lots of new stuff from being in the business back in 2004.

12gallonsofhex · Jan 6, 2019

Ocelaris said:
I'm sure you can find generic bulbs for them that would be fine for a refugium, they may not be aquarium specific, but they should work fine.

The problem is that they are a weird square pin. Not like the newer square pin with the separator in the middle, but close together. I could change the bases to the straight pin, but that's a lot of work for low output bulbs.

12gallonsofhex · Jan 6, 2019

Lowell Lemon said:
I also have brand new old stock light systems from Jali to go with the straight pin lamps. I even have some actual Phillips Actinic 03 T8 lamps the ones that started it all. LOL I have lots of new stuff from being in the business back in 2004.

Do any of them look like this?

Lowell Lemon · Jan 6, 2019

12gallonsofhex said:
Do any of them look like this?

No all 4 pin straight across. I do remember those pin arrangements though.

12gallonsofhex · Jan 6, 2019

Ocelaris said:
I'm sure you can find generic bulbs for them that would be fine for a refugium, they may not be aquarium specific, but they should work fine.

Although, I guess if algae growth is the problem with old cfl bulbs then I could just run these for a fuge. Good point

dantimdad · Jan 6, 2019

If you want to convert. I will help.

Crabs McJones · Jan 6, 2019

My uncle uses the same fixture over his tank, these are the bulbs he uses if it helps

https://m.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=13313

andrewkw · Jan 6, 2019

The value in converting this would be purely sentimental. I would replace it and then either toss this or keep it as a museum piece

My first reef had a 65w 50/50 PC fixture originally. If you really want to squeeze some value out of this fixture use it for now until the bulb burns out - if you're using it to grow macro algae who cares about the spectrum. Now that I think about it, that's actually what I did with my fixture but this was 2006 or 2007 maybe when it finally burned out. Buying these $40+ bulbs doesn't seem practical when you can buy a cheap led cheaper and you'll get 5+ years out of that.

davocean · Jan 6, 2019

The running joke for a long time was cfl's are great for growing algae, especially w/ old bulbs, so I'd guess fine for fuge.

That link for $40 was for 96W, you may find your size cheaper somewhere.
They made pink FW grow lights.
Someone probably has a stockpile of these bulbs somewhere, hit up current usa or dr foster smith or something maybe, but it is pretty cheap and easy to do a dome light w/ a cooler running LED flood for fuge

12gallonsofhex · Jan 6, 2019

dantimdad said:
If you want to convert. I will help.

I was just reading the led thread and your 'nerd alert' information. I am good with most automotive electronics, and am interested in an education in building an led fixture for myself. I have a cheap Chinese led fixture for now knowing I will need to upgrade once I achieve a stable matrix and a stable maintenance policy. I would very much appreciate your expertise at the time I am ready. Can you point me in the direction of good tutorials/threads about building led fixtures?

Saveafish · Jan 6, 2019

12gallonsofhex said:
Do any of them look like this?

That's called square pin. You have straight pin and square pin. I use to run these kind.

12gallonsofhex · Jan 6, 2019

andrewkw said:
The value in converting this would be purely sentimental. I would replace it and then either toss this or keep it as a museum piece My first reef had a 65w 50/50 PC fixture originally. If you really want to squeeze some value out of this fixture use it for now until the bulb burns out - if you're using it to grow macro algae who cares about the spectrum. Now that I think about it, that's actually what I did with my fixture but this was 2006 or 2007 maybe when it finally burned out. Buying these $40+ bulbs doesn't seem practical when you can buy a cheap led cheaper and you'll get 5+ years out of that.

I agree with the cost of the bulbs being more than its worth. I got the chinese led fixture found on Amazon as a gift from my in-laws and think it will be enough for zoas and mushrooms for the mean time as I developed a stable aquarium. I like the idea of converting the housing to LEDs so that I retain the sentiment and have something that would support SPS when I am good enough to keep them.